1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a communication device and, more specifically, to a handheld device for communicating with a sensor positioned within a vehicle tire. The device includes a housing having circuitry contained therein connected to a low-frequency transceiver. The device is able to communicate with the tire sensor for receiving data sensed thereby and providing the received data to a user for evaluation thereof. Additionally, the device is able to transmit instructional data to selectively adjust the operation of the sensor on the tire.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Radios Frequency (RF) based Tire Pressure Monitoring (TPM) systems have been available commercially on many automobiles and trucks in the past several years. The systems vary from simple to complex. The simplest systems may only report low tire pressure, while the more complex systems may report data such as actual tire pressure, tire temperature as well as the condition of the power source of at least one of the sensor and transmitter.
TPM systems are typically comprised of two primary components: (1) battery powered sensor/transmitter modules, which are mounted within each tire of the vehicle; and (2) a central receiver module that alerts the driver when a tire's pressure is at least one of below or above a pre-stored acceptable tire pressure limit.
Tire mounted sensor/transmitters periodically measure the pressure (and temperature) internal to a tire and report via a RF transmission at least one of the tire pressure and tire temperature. Alternatively, the sensor may only report if the tire pressure is low or high. The complexity of the system determines what data is actually reported.
The receiver module is continuously monitoring for RF signals sent from a sensor/transmitter. If a transmission is received, the receiver may update a digital display of tire pressure for a given tire, or sound an alarm to indicate that a low or high-pressure alert message was received from a sensor/transmitter module.
While these systems perform the intended functions necessary to implement a tire pressure monitoring system, there exists a need for a tool to communicate directly with a tire mounted sensor/transmitter to interrogate the sensor/transmitter for useful information such as battery condition, tire pressure, tire temperature, and the like. Furthermore, it is desirous that this tool be a hand held communication tool. It is also desirable for the device to be able send commands to the tire mounted sensor/transmitter module instructing it to perform a variety of functions.
While the tire sensing devices described above may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.